Conventionally, when installing plural software items to a system, the plural software items are installed in a sequence assessed as operable, since the installation sequence has an influence on the operation of each software item.
For example, installation information related to an installation task of respective software items is extracted for plural software items to be installed to a device, and installation loads arising from installation task sequences of the respective software items are computed based on the extracted installation information. A method has been proposed for selecting a sequence for installing the plural software items based on the computed installation load. In the method, partial software installation sequences are extracted based on software having prerequisite relationships obtained from dependency relationships, and executable installation sequence candidates are extracted based on the extracted partial installation sequences.
Moreover, a method has been proposed for associating first software with second software needed in order to use the first software, and for managing the associations, and for associating information related to third software already installed to a management-target system with the management-target system and managing the associations. In the method, an instruction to distribute the first software is received, and, in cases in which the second software needed in order to use the first software is not in the third software, the second software is set as a distribution target. Then, the second software that was the distribution target is set as the first software, any needed second software is found, and the second software is set as the distribution target in cases in which the second software is not in the third software.